Got yourself a YouTube channel that does a lot of livestreaming? Get ready to do that streaming in 4K. Today, Google announced that 4K streams are launching, which means both standard streams and those in 360-degree formats. As Google points out in its announcement, this should allow for “mind-blowing” image quality with a “more detailed, crisper picture” […]

Got yourself a YouTube channel that does a lot of livestreaming? Get ready to do that streaming in 4K. Today, Google announced that 4K streams are launching, which means both standard streams and those in 360-degree formats.

As Google points out in its announcement, this should allow for “mind-blowing” image quality with a “more detailed, crisper picture” especially since they support up to 60fps at 4K. And since 360-degree videos get the feature as well, that could be amazing experiences at concerts or other public arenas.

Announced this week, YouTube now supports the uploading of videos in HDR (high dynamic range), bringing a new era of content with higher contrast and vibrant colors. While 4K and HDR is all the rage currently, viewers will need a compatible display/monitor/TV in order to enjoy this upgraded video quality. YouTube shamelessly plugs that HDR TVs […]

Announced this week, YouTube now supports the uploading of videos in HDR (high dynamic range), bringing a new era of content with higher contrast and vibrant colors.

While 4K and HDR is all the rage currently, viewers will need a compatible display/monitor/TV in order to enjoy this upgraded video quality. YouTube shamelessly plugs that HDR TVs with a Chromecast Ultra connected will do the trick for viewing HDR content, but states that all 2016 Samsung SUHD and UHD TVs will soon also support HDR.

If you have a compatible device for viewing HDR content, you can check out YouTube’s short playlist right here. In that playlist, you will find content from creators such as Mystery Guitar Man, Abandon Visuals, and more. If you are a content creator and would like to know more about uploading in HDR, go over YouTube’s FAQ on the subject here.

If you happen to be a content creator on YouTube, things are changing in the coming weeks that you should take note of. In total, there are six things being added for those in charge of a channel, each of which should benefit not only you, but your community as a whole. YouTube lists three changes […]

If you happen to be a content creator on YouTube, things are changing in the coming weeks that you should take note of. In total, there are six things being added for those in charge of a channel, each of which should benefit not only you, but your community as a whole. YouTube lists three changes for the interaction side of things, then three behind-the-scenes changes that can help make your channel a better place for people to be.

For interactions, YouTube will soon allow creators to pin select comments to the top of a comment section, granting an easy way to steer a conversation. This same functionality is already built directly into websites you may frequent, including this one. Additionally, should a creator want to acknowledge a comment, but not exert too much effort, they can now simply “heart” a comment. Also, from time to time, you may a see a fake account trying to represent the creator. YouTube hopes to diminish this by allowing creators to use a unique color username in a comments section.

Behind the scenes, creators can now choose moderators for comments, block words and phrases, as well as hide potentially inappropriate comments for review. These specific changes should create a potentially safer place for all viewers.

In 2017, YouTube intends to launch a new application called YouTube Go. The app has been in the works at YouTube for some time, with teams of engineers, designers, and researchers travelling to India, collecting ideas and testing prototypes with hundreds of people across 15 cities. The goal, according to YouTube, is to offer those with […]

In 2017, YouTube intends to launch a new application called YouTube Go. The app has been in the works at YouTube for some time, with teams of engineers, designers, and researchers travelling to India, collecting ideas and testing prototypes with hundreds of people across 15 cities. The goal, according to YouTube, is to offer those with slower data connections the ability to watch any video at any time, hopefully regardless of connectivity speeds.

As announced by YouTube, the app focuses on a few key points: Improved offline playback, cost effectiveness, as well as being a complete social experience. Once launched, users will have the ability to download videos for offline playback in small “low quality” sizes, or complete “standard sizes.” Currently, offline playback in the US appears to be limited to “Medium – 360p” or “HD – 720p.”

On the social side, YouTube Go grants users the ability to share videos seamlessly. If you have a friend nearby, you can essentially beam the video to a friend, whether it be offline or not. YouTube states this feature uses zero data.

As mentioned, YouTube Go is not expected to launch until 2017. From what we can tell, folks will be testing it in India to start it off, with a broader rollout taking place should everything go well.

Want to signup for YouTube Go to be first to try it? You may do so right here.

]]>http://www.droid-life.com/2016/09/27/youtube-go-app/feed/10Google is Moving Hangouts On Air From Google+, Bringing It to YouTube Livehttp://www.droid-life.com/2016/08/15/google-hangouts-on-air-youtube/
http://www.droid-life.com/2016/08/15/google-hangouts-on-air-youtube/#commentsMon, 15 Aug 2016 22:26:27 +0000http://www.droid-life.com/?p=190197

Google, a company known well for its redundancy, is making a move to eliminate a small portion of its duplicate services. For the past few months at least, those looking to produce their own live podcasts could choose between Hangouts on Air (intertwined with Google+) or YouTube Live (essentially the same as Hangouts on Air, but […]

Google, a company known well for its redundancy, is making a move to eliminate a small portion of its duplicate services. For the past few months at least, those looking to produce their own live podcasts could choose between Hangouts on Air (intertwined with Google+) or YouTube Live (essentially the same as Hangouts on Air, but locked to YouTube). In an announcement made this afternoon, Google will end Hangouts on Air via Google+, and is moving everyone to YouTube Live.

Taking The Droid Life Show as an example, nothing is changing. Essentially, instead of starting our stream via the Hangouts website or extension, we simply boot up a livestream through YouTube’s Creator Studio interface. There’s no new account to setup or anything difficult about the transition. If anything, this should save people a headache, as there will no longer be two services providing the exact same experience across two separate platforms.

Officially, everyone will need to do their streaming from YouTube Live beginning September 12. For anyone with a scheduled Hangouts on Air session on or after that date, you will need to reschedule it using YouTube Live.

The only downside, at least from what I can see, YouTube Live does not support Q&A, Showcase, or Applause. These are little extensions used with Hangouts on Air that grant the streamer additional things to do, such as interact with viewers. If you need a Q&A feature for your stream, simply ask people to submit questions via a social network.

YouTube has been in the live streaming game for a number of years now, but you have never been able to live stream from a mobile device. That seems odd, since YouTube is still video king and Google is a company who has heavily invested its future in mobile. Instead, those who want to live […]

YouTube has been in the live streaming game for a number of years now, but you have never been able to live stream from a mobile device. That seems odd, since YouTube is still video king and Google is a company who has heavily invested its future in mobile. Instead, those who want to live stream from anywhere on mobile have had to turn to services like Periscope and Facebook, who were early into mobile live streaming game.

Today, YouTube is joining the party. As a part of VidCon, YouTube and Google announced that mobile live streaming is arriving to a select group of YouTubers immediately and will then rollout “more widely soon.”

To stream via YouTube app, you won’t need a separate app (which is shocking, since this is YouTube we are talking about). All you’ll need is the latest version of the app and a tap on a new “big red” capture button. You can select photos as a thumbnail and broadcast and chat in “near real time.”

Once a stream has finished, the video will be just like any other video in that you will be able to search for them, find them through recommendations, and protect them. Sounds easy, right?

Earlier in the week, a handful of YouTube Red subscribers began receiving emails from Google that spoke of a free gift as a thank you for being a part of the movement. That “thank you” gift was a free Chromecast (the new one). We just now received our email and figured we’d be sure to point […]

Earlier in the week, a handful of YouTube Red subscribers began receiving emails from Google that spoke of a free gift as a thank you for being a part of the movement. That “thank you” gift was a free Chromecast (the new one). We just now received our email and figured we’d be sure to point out to the rest of the YouTube Red subs around these parts to keep an eye out for a similar email. Or at the very least, to assure you that these emails really are showing up.

From what we can tell, this isn’t a selective thing, but a gift to those who actually signed up for Red. I say that because I have three Gmail accounts, two of which are subscribed to Google Play Music, while just one is signed up for Red. The single account that is signed up for Red is the account that received the gift – the other two haven’t seen this freebie offer.

Now, I know that if you sign-up for Play Music’s monthly service, Red is a part of the deal, but you aren’t necessarily a Red subscriber, you just get Red as an added bonus. That may seem silly or unfair, but that’s the only explanation I’ve got for you.

So, if you subscribed to YouTube Red, be on the lookout! You have until June 19 to redeem.

YouTube Red, the ad-free version of YouTube that also includes a subscription to Google Play Music at a price of $9.99 per month, can be had as a Google Cast (Chromecast) offer for just $0.99 for three months. At less than a dollar, I’d say signing up is probably worth the hassle if it gets […]

YouTube Red, the ad-free version of YouTube that also includes a subscription to Google Play Music at a price of $9.99 per month, can be had as a Google Cast (Chromecast) offer for just $0.99 for three months. At less than a dollar, I’d say signing up is probably worth the hassle if it gets you the next few months of ad-free YouTube streaming with a bonus of the Google Play Music collection on the side.

If you own a Cast-eligible device, you can check to see if the offer is available to you by hitting up the Google Cast Offers page, linked below. Once redirected, the site will check all of your devices to see if the YouTube Red can be yours. If it can be, the click of a “redeem” button followed by a short sign-up process over at YouTube should be all that is required.

As announced during yesterday morning’s keynote, Google is rebuilding its YouTube app, making it more enjoyable for those who plan on using the service with virtual reality. The announcement goes hand-in-hand with the unveiling of Daydream, the company’s VR platform for Android devices. Once the changes are live and Daydream is available to consumers, a revamped […]

As announced during yesterday morning’s keynote, Google is rebuilding its YouTube app, making it more enjoyable for those who plan on using the service with virtual reality. The announcement goes hand-in-hand with the unveiling of Daydream, the company’s VR platform for Android devices.

Once the changes are live and Daydream is available to consumers, a revamped UI will be seen, just like the own shown in the header image above. Explained by YouTube, the goal is provide an, “easier, more immersive way to find and experience virtual reality content on YouTube.”

The YouTube app will still feature the things you know and enjoy, such as voice search, easy discovery, as well as your playlists of videos. Once live, it will all just be tweaked to better work inside of a VR headset. Naturally, if you aren’t using VR, the YouTube UI won’t be changing.

YouTube claims they have been working with many creators to have a ton of VR and 360-degree video content available at the time of Daydream’s launch. Additionally, YouTube is collaborating with the NBA, BuzzFeed, and Tastemade to deliver all new experiences to VR users.

Like everything else from Google I/O this year, expect to try it for yourself later this year in Q3.

Rolling out to a very limited amount of users, YouTube is testing a messaging and sharing feature from directly within the YouTube app on Android. With this feature, called Native Sharing, users can share YouTube videos to other YouTube users, without the need of leaving the app itself. For example, if you have a friend […]

Rolling out to a very limited amount of users, YouTube is testing a messaging and sharing feature from directly within the YouTube app on Android. With this feature, called Native Sharing, users can share YouTube videos to other YouTube users, without the need of leaving the app itself. For example, if you have a friend who you share YouTube videos with constantly, you both can start a thread to share videos in, as well as discuss them, all inside of the YouTube app.

This feature will be housed inside of a new tab, located in the YouTube app. It will sit directly between your subscriptions and profile tab on the home page. If you have a group of friends you want to share videos and commentary with, you can add multiple individuals to a single thread. The sharing aspect is handled the same exact way it is shared normally, with a popup window sliding in from the bottom of your screen. Once you have the contact chosen, hit send, and away it goes into your thread.

As previously stated, this feature is available to a small group of YouTube users, but if you happen to be selected, you can actually invite friends to partake in Native Sharing with you. This should help increase the number of users quite rapidly. To invite friends, simply begin a new thread with their Google account selected.

As for me, I don’t have any update for the YouTube app, so it’s hard to say how exactly YouTube is choosing its participants. Either look for an update on Google Play, or open your YouTube app and see if the new Sharing tab is there. If you have it, you’re a very lucky duck.

Do you think Native Sharing and conversation threads will influence you to share more videos with your friends?

Because you watch a ton of “snackable” video on your smartphones, Google is introducing a new ad format for advertisers to use on YouTube that only lasts 6 seconds. These new ad styles are called “Bumper” ads and Google is hoping that advertisers will use them to get creative in showing you commercials in between […]

Because you watch a ton of “snackable” video on your smartphones, Google is introducing a new ad format for advertisers to use on YouTube that only lasts 6 seconds. These new ad styles are called “Bumper” ads and Google is hoping that advertisers will use them to get creative in showing you commercials in between video binges.

Google envisions a world where advertisers can use these 6-second Bumper ads like “little haikus of video ads,” or by cutting up longer ads into short parts that equal a whole as users watch video after video.

I know that advertising talk isn’t exactly interesting to most of us, since we would rather do without ads, but I’m just curious if a 6-second spot before a video is something that would offend or annoy you less. Would you be more inclined to sit through 6 seconds of advertising if that’s all it took to get you to your intended content?

Beginning today, users on Android and iOS will be treated to an updated Home screen experience when opening the YouTube app. While the overall layout does not appear to be changing drastically, users should notice larger video thumbnails while looking through search tabs, and YouTube details that its recommendation system has received a boost in […]

Beginning today, users on Android and iOS will be treated to an updated Home screen experience when opening the YouTube app. While the overall layout does not appear to be changing drastically, users should notice larger video thumbnails while looking through search tabs, and YouTube details that its recommendation system has received a boost in intelligence.

According to YouTube, the updated recommendation system is based on “deep neural network” technology, which means it can find patterns automatically to keep learning and improving as it continues to work. To put it more simply, if you watch a lot of baseball videos, you will see more baseball videos. As it is right now, users will always seem similar videos in the recommendations list, but a lot of that content might be years old. With this new system, YouTube’s goal is that recommended content will be much more fresh (newer).

Announced this week, YouTube is bringing support for 360-degree live streams, as well as spatial audio for on-demand videos. With support for 360-degree live streams, viewers will be able to wear their VR headsets and watch events in real-time, whether it be flagship unveilings, concerts, or the theater. To celebrate this, YouTube has been streaming videos […]

Announced this week, YouTube is bringing support for 360-degree live streams, as well as spatial audio for on-demand videos. With support for 360-degree live streams, viewers will be able to wear their VR headsets and watch events in real-time, whether it be flagship unveilings, concerts, or the theater. To celebrate this, YouTube has been streaming videos from Coachella, viewable on YouTube with a Cardboard viewer or any other VR headset you have.

Not only will live streams in a full 360 degrees be viewable, but spatial audio brings a more immersive experience for everyone. Spatial audio is essentially how we hear the world around us in everyday situations. When you hear a sound, you can usually tell which direction it came from and how far away it is. With support for spatial audio in VR on YouTube, creators can deliver a better environment for creating experiences. YouTube has created a playlist to highlight spatial audio support.

Naturally, to best experience spatial audio, a user may want to be wearing a good set of headphones to absorb all of the sounds as they were meant to be heard.

If you have your VR headset ready to rock, all of these changes are now live on YouTube.

Back in December, YouTube decided that it wasn’t happy with T-Mobile’s Binge On video service and raised some important questions, partly because T-Mobile was being ultra sneaky about how it worked, but also because T-Mobile was throttling their streams even though they weren’t participating. T-Mobile’s CEO John Legere threw a couple of big, embarrassing fits about YouTube’s […]

Back in December, YouTube decided that it wasn’t happy with T-Mobile’s Binge On video service and raised some important questions, partly because T-Mobile was being ultra sneaky about how it worked, but also because T-Mobile was throttling their streams even though they weren’t participating. T-Mobile’s CEO John Legere threw a couple of big, embarrassing fits about YouTube’s concerns, because apparently, no one is allowed to question pink Batman. Legere just couldn’t see how anyone could be offended by what his company was doing with Binge On, assuming that those with concerns all had some sort of agenda.

As it turns out, YouTube (and the rest of us who had issues with Binge On) really just wanted the program to be more transparent and not do sneaky things, like throttle the companies who were not choosing to participate or make it difficult for people to opt-out. Funny how that’s a bad thing, especially to the CEO of a company who has spent the past few years calling out his competitors for not being open and upfront about policies or sales programs.

Today, after some obvious back-room negotiations took place between T-Mobile and YouTube, the two companies have co-announced that YouTube (and Google Play Movies & TV) will join Binge On, thanks to some new changes.

T-Mobile made the announcement through their newsroom, but Google decided to skip announcing the move through their YouTube blog and instead went through their much-more-serious Public Policy blog. T-Mobile’s announcement is all “Rah! Rah! Rah! We added more services to Binge On because it’s a runaway success!” while Google’s focuses on the fact that they weren’t about to join the free video streaming service unless some major changes were made.

Because of the questions raised and the stink the media made about the whole situation, T-Mobile has continued to “improve the program,” according to Google. Those improvements include clarifying to users what “optimization” of video means, making it easier than ever to turn off the service, and “improving information and choice for video services.”

The changes to video providers include the option to opt-out if they do not want to be throttled by T-Mobile. T-Mobile will also now work with video services “to optimize their own streams,” if they feel that is the better option while participating. That could mean pushing through better video quality, instead of the DVD-level video that Binge On defaulted all video to.

These are pretty big changes that potentially never would have happened without YouTube questioning it almost four months ago.

In T-Mobile’s announcement, the carrier announced that along with YouTube, Baeble Music, Discovery GO, ESNE TV, FilmOn.TV, Fox Business, Google Play Movies, KlowdTV, and Red Bull TV have joined the list of Binge On supported video services.

YouTube launched its first batch of YouTube Red Originals this morning, a set of movies and shows that can only be viewed if you are subscribed to YouTube Red. Taking a few of its most popular creators, YouTube set out to take on the likes of Netflix and Amazon, offering original content that can only be […]

YouTube launched its first batch of YouTube Red Originals this morning, a set of movies and shows that can only be viewed if you are subscribed to YouTube Red. Taking a few of its most popular creators, YouTube set out to take on the likes of Netflix and Amazon, offering original content that can only be viewed in one place. However, with the first batch of shows and movies, don’t expect to see anything on par with House of Cards or Orange is the New Black.

Available right now are two shows and two movies. The shows are A Trip to Unicorn Island, and Scare PewDiePie, starring none other than PewDiePie. The premise for this show, which should somehow be a warcrime, is as follows.

In this reality-adventure series from the creator and executive producers of “The Walking Dead” at Skybound Entertainment and Maker Studios, experience thrills, chills and laughter as PewDiePie encounters terrifying situations inspired by his favorite video games.

God help us.

The two movies are Dance Camp from AwesomenessTV, and Lazer Team from Rooster Teeth. After watching five minutes of Lazer Team, I wanted to claw my eyes out. This might be a good indicator of what to expect from YouTube in the future. As for the premise, I can give it to you simply. Four small-town losers, one of which had to wear a helmet in school, become champions of Earth thanks to a special suit of power armor made by the US Army. Such original. Much wow.

YouTube states that this first batch is only the beginning of much more original content to come in 2016.

You can check out all of the YouTube Red Original content by following the link below.